Closure



April 28,- 1959 C. SCHNEIDER ET AL CLOSURE Filed Dec. 11, 1956 FIG. 2

FIG.3

INVENTORS CHARLIES SCHNEIDER ISIDORE PE N N I B ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofitice 2,884,148 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 CLOSURE Charles Schneider, Laurelton, and Isidore Penn, Brooklyn,

N.Y., assignors to Penn Cork & Closures Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application December 11, 1956, Serial No. 627,596

11 Claims. (Cl. 2156) This invention relates to a closure, and more particularly to a closure for a container or decanter such as a decanter which holds alcoholic beverages.

The object of the invention is to provide a closure 'for a container or decanter, the closure being constructed so that there will be no leakage of fluid from the container when the closure is thereon.

Another object of the invention is to provide a closure which is adapted to be releasably connected to a container, the closure including a cylindrical member or ring which has a pair of caps mounted therein, each of the caps having a sealing liner arranged contiguous thereto, and whereby one of the caps is adapted to threadedly engage the threaded member of the container, while the other cap is adapted to threadedly engage a top piece.

A further object of the invention is to provide a closure which includes a cylindrical ring, there being a pair of similar caps mounted in the ring, and whereby one of the caps is adapted to releasably engage the threaded neck of a container, while the other cap is adapted to releasably engage a top place.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a closure for a container which can be used on a container holding various types of fluids or liquids such as wine, liquors, cosmetics or the like, the closure adapted to hold suitable decorations for advertising matter thereon, and wherein the closure includes a pair of caps which are mounted in an outer ring, there being a sealing liner positioned in each cap, and wherein one of the caps is adapted to releasably engage the neck of the container, while the other cap is adapted to releasably engage a top piece.

A further object of the invention is to provide a container closure which is extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and in which like numerals are used to designate like parts throughout the same:

Fig. l is an elevational view illustrating a container provided with the closure of the present invention and showing the parts in assembled relation;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the upper portion of the container and showing the closure and top piece;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the closure of the present invention, and with parts bro-ken away and in section; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view illustrating a modified closure.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral indicates a bottle or container which is adapted to hold any desired material such as a liquid such as wine or the like, and the container 10 includes a reduced diameter neck 11 which has a bead 12 thereon. The neck 11 is further provided with threads 13.

The present invention is directed to a closure which is indicated generally by the numeral 14, and the closure 14 includes an outer cylindrical ring 15 which can be made of any suitable material. Mounted in the ring 15 is a pair of spaced apart caps 16 as shown in Fig. 3. Each of the caps 16 has the same construction and each includes a cylindrical sleeve 17 which is provided with a threaded portion 18, and each cap 16 further includes a circular base or plate 19. A circular head 20 is arranged on the outer end of each of the sleeves 17, and the beads 20 engage the outer edges of the ring 15. The caps are maintained within the ring 'by friction. Arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each of the plates 19 is a sealing liner or disk 21 which is adapted to be made of any suitable material.

There is further provided a top piece which is indicated generally by the numeral 22, and the top piece 22 preferably includes a hollow interior 23. The top piece 22 further includes a threaded portion 24 which is adapted to threadedly engage the threaded portion 18 of one of the caps 16.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that there has been provided a closure for a container such as the container 10, and wherein the container may hold any desired type of liquid such as wine, liquor or the like. In use, the closure 14 is constructed so that it includes a cylindrical member or ring 15. The ring 15 may be 'made of any suitable material such as metal, and the ring 15 may have suitable indicia or advertising matter on its outer surface or any other decorative matter. Each cap 16 includes a sleeve 17 which frictionally engages the inner surface of the ring 15.

When the closure 14 is being used, the threaded portion 18 of one of the sleeves 17 is arranged in threaded engagement with the threaded portion 13 of the neck 11 of the bottle 10. Since both of the caps 16 have the same construction, it will be seen that it will make no diiference which of the caps engage the neck 11 of the container 10. This has the advantage of facilitating the manual or automatic placement of the closure on the neck 11 since there is no possibility of screwing the closure on the container upside down or in reversed fashion. Furthermore, by having the pair of similar caps 16, the sleeve 17 which does not engage the neck 11 can be used for threadedly receiving the threaded portion 24 of the top piece 22. The top piece 22 is preferably hollow as at 23 whereby the top piece 22 can be readily disengaged or unscrewed from the closure 14 so that the hollow top piece can be used for any desired purpose, as for example, the top piece 22 can be used for measuring predetermined quantities of wine or other liquids which may be in the container 10.

Thus, it will be seen that with the assembly of the present invention, the top piece 22 can be readily disengaged from the closure 14 simply by unscrewing the top piece 22 from the closure 14. Similarly, the closure 14 can be readily unscrewed from the neck 11 of the container 10 so that the closure 14 can either be removed separately from the container 10, or else it can be removed simultaneously with the top piece 22 from ,the container 10.

The parts can be made of any suitable material and in any desired shape or size. For example, the ring 15 can be made of metal, and the pair of caps. 16 can also he made of metal. The pair of sealing disks 21 are made of a suitable yieldable material which will insure that there will be a fluid-tight seal between the closure and the container.

As previously described, there will be no possibility of placing the closure on the container wrong side up or engaging the top piece with the wrong end of the closure.

Thus, the job of mounting the closure on the container, as when the closure is being mounted on the container in a winery or other locality will be greatly simplified so that it will not be necessary to stop and determine which is the right end or wrong end of the closure since both ends of the closure are similar or of the same construction. Furthermore, by means of the yieldable sealing disk 21, there will be an effective seal between the neck 11 and the closure so that fluid will not accidentally leak from the container lb. Due to the provision of the caps which include the integral sleeve 17 and base or plate portion 19, there will be no possibility of the liquid escaping from around the closure.

The following is given as examples of the various materials which can be used for making the linings 21. The linings or liners 21 may be made of a pulp which has a paper back vinylite facing but it is to be understood that the present invention is not restricted to any particular material, since the material for making the various parts can be varied as desired. Other materials which can be used for making the liners or disks 21 are vinylite wherein the vinylite may be synthetic resin which is made by polymerization of vinyl compounds. Or, the liners 21 can be made of polyethylene, tinfoil, aluminum foil, or a combination of these materials.

As previously described, the closure can be used on containers holding any desired type of liquid such as wine, liquors, cosmetics or the like. By means of the closure of the present invention, portions of the contents of the container can be emptied or used and then when the closure is replaced on the container, there will be no evaporation of the contents of the container so that when it is desired to dispense additional material from the container, it is only necessary to remove the closure and dispense the desired amount of liquid from the container or bottle.

The closure is highly aesthetic so that it will not detract from the appearance of the bottle, as for example, when the closure is being used on fancy decanters or the like. Due to the threaded engagement between the sleeve 17 and the top piece 22 and neck 11 of the bottle 10, the closure can be readily mounted on or removed from the bottle and similarly the top piece can be readily connected to or detached from the closure, without requiring the use of very much pressure. Furthermore, since the liners 21 are made of yieldable material, these members will not crack or break upon application of pressure thereto so that the closure will withstand long periods of usage.

Heretofore certain types of bottle closures have been made of plastic or the like, and such closures were not effective since the plastic had a tendency to break easily whereby the contents of the container leaked or ran out. The pair of caps 16 can be made of different materials, as for example, the caps can be made of tinplate or aluminum and these caps are adapted to be pressed into the outer ring 15, and the latter may be made of any suitable metal such as brass, aluminum or steel. The caps 16 are frictionally held in the outer ring so that the caps will not accidentally turn in the ring when applied to the container 10. Since the caps 16 have the same construction, the closure can be readily applied to the bottle by an automatic machine.

eretoiore, with previous types of closures, the person applying the closure to a bottle could readily become confused since both ends of the previous closures look alike but are actually different so that even though the opposite ends of previous closures were different, nevertheless it was possible to make a mistake and apply the wrong end of the closure to the bottle, but with the present invention such errors will be avoided since both ends of the closure are the same whereby it will not make any difference which end of the closure is applied to the bottle and this will insure that the fluid will not accidentally leak from the container.

The closure of the present invention and the top piece may be applied and removed as a unitary structure or else they may be applied and removed separately.

Referring to Fig. 4 of the drawing, there is shown a modified closure which is indicated generally by the numeral 25. The closure 25 has substantially the same construction as the previously described closure 14. Thus, the closure 25 includes an outer ring 26, a pair of caps 27, and wherein each cap 27 includes a sleeve 28 and a base or plate 29.

A sealing liner or disk 39 is arranged adjacent each base 29. However, in Fig. 4, it will be seen that the end portions of the ring 26 are rolled inward as at 31 and these inwardly rolled portions 31 engage turned edges 32 on the caps 27. The provision of the interengaging portions 31 and 32 shown in Fig. 4 serve to insure that the parts will be held in their proper assembled relation so that accidental displacement or rotation of the parts is prevented. Since both caps in the outer ring are similar construction, the closure can be applied 'by means of an automatic capping machine which will result in a great saving of time and labor.

Having thus described the invention, it is obvious that various immaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing from the spirit of the invention. Hence, it is not to be understood that the invention is limited to the exact form, construction, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described, or uses mentioned. The outer cylindrical ring 15 is preferably made of metal.

We claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a closure comprising a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring, each of said caps including an inner base, each carp further including a cylindrical sleeve frictionally engaging the inner surface of said ring, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a closure comprising a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring, each of said caps including an inner base, each cap further including a cylindrical sleeve frictionally engaging the inner surface of said ring, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base, said liners being made of yieldable material, each of said sleeves being provided with a threaded portion.

3. In combination, a container for holding a quantity of liquid, said container including a neck, a top piece adapted to be arranged in end to end relation with respect to said neck, a closure releasably mounted on said neck and said closure including a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring, a sealing liner carried by each cap, interengaging means on one of said caps and said neck for releasably connecting said neck to one of said caps, and interengaging means on said top piece and on the other of said caps for releasably connecting said top piece to said other cap.

4. In combination, a container for holding a quantity of liquid, said container including a neck, a top piece adapted to be arranged in end to end relation with respect to said neck, a closure releasably mounted on said neck and said closure including a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring, a sealing liner carried by each cap, interengaging means on one of said caps and said neck for releasably connecting said neck to one of said caps, and inter-engaging means on said top piece and on the other of said caps for releasably conecting said top piece to said other cap, said interengaging means comprising threaded portions.

5. In combination, a container including a neck provided with external threads thereon, a closure releasably mounted on said neck and including a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring and each cap including a circular base and a cylindrical sleeve, each sleeve being threaded, there being a bead on the outer surface of each sleeve abutting the end of said ring, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base.

6. In combination, a container including a neck pro vided with external threads thereon, a closure releasably mounted on said neck and including a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring and each cap including a circular base and a cylindrical sleeve, each sleeve being threaded, there being a bead on the outer surface of each sleeve abutting the end of said ring, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base, one of said sleeves engaging said threaded neck, and a top piece including a threaded portion arranged in engagement with the other sleeve, said liners being made of yieldable material.

7. In combination, a container for holding a quantity of liquid, said container including a neck, a top piece adapted to be arranged in end to end relation with respect to said neck, a closure releasably mounted on said neck and said closure including a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring, a sealing liner carried by each cap, interengaging means on one of said caps and said neck for releasably connecting said neck to one of said caps, and interengaging means on said top piece and on the other of said caps for releasably connecting said top piece to said other cap, said top piece being of hollow construction.

8. As a new article of manufacture, a closure comprising a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring, each of said caps including an inner base, the caps being mounted in said ring base to base, each cap including a cylindrical sleeve frictionally engaging the inner surface of said ring, the outer edge of each sleeve being rolled outwardly to form a head, said bead abutting the respective edges of said ring to firmly secure the caps in said ring, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base.

9. As a new article of manufacture, a closure comprising a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of metal caps mounted in said ring, each of said caps including an inner base, the caps being mounted in said ring base to base, each cap including a cylindrical sleeve frictionally engaging the inner surface of said ring, the outer edge of each sleeve being rolled outwardly to form a bead, said head abutting the respective edges of said ring to firmly secure the caps in said ring, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base.

10. As a new aiticle of manufacture, a closure comprising a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of spaced apart metal caps mounted in said ring, eadh of said caps including an inner base, the caps being mounted in said ring base to base, each cap including a cylindrical sleeve frictionally engaging the inner surface of said ring, the outer end portion of each of said sleeves being rolled inwardly, the outer edges of said ring being inwardly turned around and engaging the rolled outer end portions of said sleeves, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base.

11. As a new article of manufacture, a closure comprising a cylindrical metal ring, a pair of metal caps mounted in said ring, each of said caps including an inner base, the caps being mounted in said ring base to base, each cap including a cylindrical sleeve frictionally engaging the inner surface of said ring, the outer end portion of each of said sleeves being rolled inwardly, the outer edges of said ring being inwardly turned around and engaging the rolled outer end portions of said sleeves, and a sealing liner arranged contiguous to the outer surface of each base.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS l,97l,307 Carvalho Mar. 9, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 295,175 Germany Nov. 6, 1914 646,936 Great Britain Nov. 29, 1950 

